Four figures could be seen walking along a rock encrusted trail through thick forest. They were named Nana, Senri, Husky, and Cooro and had been gifted with +Anima spirits, the bat, the bear, the fish, and the crow respectivly. The group was walking as fast as they could towards the town in the north, hoping to get there and find shelter before the storm hit.
Black clouds loomed to the west, rolling in faster than clouds should have been able to.
Nana glanced up at the sky, concern wrinkling her brow. She stopped walking. "Guys, I don't think we'll make it to the town before it starts to rain."
"But what should we do? If we stop, we'll get soaked. There's no shelter anywhere." Husky turned to face her, a scowl playing at the edge of his lips.
Nana didn't reply. She let her bat ears unfurl from her skull. She turned on the spot, walking from one side of the trail to the other. She stopped suddenly, staring into the woods for almost a full minute. "That sound. . ." she murmered suddenly, walking right off the trail without another word.
Husky raced after her, leaving a dumbfounded Cooro and Senri behind.
She was running now, faster than she was aware that she could run. The way she moved seemed almost mechanical, the way she darted around trees and jumped over rocks. Like she'd done it over and over. Everything looked familiiar, but she couldn't quite place why.
"Nana! NANA!" Husky shouted, following her as fast as he could. At the speed she was going, it was all he could do just to keep her in his sight. Suddenly he stumbled out of the woods into a little clearing. A tiny house sat in the middle of it, a little garden behind it. It looked liked it had been forgotten, weeds had invaded most of the space, but thick smoke curled out of the small chimmney, so someone had to be in there. Broken wind chimes that might have at one point been glass birds hung on a string hanging on the front porch, which was probably what Nana had heard.
Nana walked slow now towards the house. She stepped onto the porch and just stared at the front door. Her hand trembled as she reached for its knob and pushed it open. "Momma?"
An angry man appeared suddenly in the crack in the door, and snarled in her face. He grabbed the front of her dress and roughly dragged her inside the cottage, Nana screamed.
Husky raced through the clearing towards the house, feet pounding the ground underneath and making tracks. He wrenched the door open just in time to see an unknown man slam Nana into the dirt floor and shout "I'll kill you! Filthy animal! I never want to see you again!" He aimed to kick her, but Nana rolled out of the way and stood up.
Her face was smudged with dirt now, and her tears were making tracks on her face, but she sobbed out, "Momma! Where's Momma? WHERE'S MOMMA?"
"Your momma ain't around no more, you'll be joining her soon in the compost heap!" The man slapped her so hard she was knocked to her knees.
Fury flared inside Husky's chest. Girl or not, Nana was still his friend, and he hated it when people hurt his friends. He ran through the room to where the man stood and whacked the man in the back of the head with his staff with all the strength he could muster. He was almost knocked off his feet, and blood gushed from where Husky had hit him.
"What the hell is this?" He kicked Nana in the face, as though he blamed her for the blow to his head, and Husky inwardly flinched when he heard a crack. He jabbed the man in the back with his staff, and he was knocked into the fireplace hearth. His head hit the corner, and a tooth was knocked out of his mouth. Blood trickled. He didn't get up.
Nana was sobbing now, curled up on the floor. Bruises budded all over her body, but besides her mouth, she didn't seem too seriously hurt. She spat out a bit of tooth and some blood, and struggeled to get up before collapsing on the ground.
Husky approached her cautiously, the way one might approach a sleeping tiger. When he got close, Nana threw herself from the floor into Husky's arms, hugging him tight and sobbing hard. "I'm sorry," she wailed. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'M SORRY!"
Slightly embarrassed, Husky awkwardly patted her back before trying to help her stand up. The front of her blouse had been ripped up from when the man who Husky had a feeling was her father had grabbed her, and didn't do well to cover her. What wasn't seen could easily be imagined. His face took on a dark shade of red as this thought entered his mind."W-well we should probably get you some help."
"Husky?"
"Yeah?"
"I-I'm fine. I'm s-sorry you had to see t-that." Her voice was trembling. "I j-just want to get a-away from here before he wakes u-up." She started to cry again, and Husky resisted the urge to dump her on the floor and leave her. He hated crying girls. They were too noisy, expected comfort, could go on and on for God knew how long.
"Husky?"
"Yeah?"
"I-I-I think he k-killed my Mo-Momma," she managed to sniffle through her sobs. She was shaking violently in Husky's arms, and he pulled her to her feet. She put her arm around Husky's neck for support, and he put his hand around her waist. The two stumbled out of the cottage, just as it started to rain. Nana pulled the wind chimes down from the porch as they passed them, putting them into the pocket of her dress.
They walked for the good part of the next hour, going as fast as Nana's bruised legs would carry her. The sun began to set. When she started to shiver violently, Husky began looking for shelter, knowing that it would be very easy for her to catch pnemonia or some other type of sickness. He found a hollowed out log and pushed her inside it before climbing in himself. They laid together for a while in silence, bodies pressed together uncomfortably close.
"Husky?"
"Yeah?"
"How long do we have to stay here?"
"I don't know, however long it takes for the storm to blow over."
There was silence.
"Husky?"
"Yeah?"
"I can walk."
"Yeah, but in the rain you'd probably get really sick.."
Nana shifted her position, so that she was lying on her side, head tucked against Husky's neck. She put her hand on his chest and sighed.
"Nana?"
"What?"
"What're you doing?"
"I figured that since we're going to be here a while I might as well as be comfortable."
Husky thougth for a moment, before pulling his left arm out from under Nana and putting it around her.
"Husky?"
"What now?"
"Why'd you put your arm around me?"
"You were laying on it and it was falling asleep. And if we don't share body heat we're both going to freeze to death." Husky was glad of the darkness, because it hid the faint tinge of blush creeping up onto his face.
Nana was blushing too, at Husky's words "share body heat."
The rain was falling harder now, and wind was blowing past the openings in the log's ends, freezing their toes and the tops of their heads. Thunder crashed violently through the sky, and Nana screamed and curled closer to Husky. For hours, or maybe only a few minutes, there was silence except for the pounding of the rain.
"Nana?"
"Hmm?" Her voice was faint. She sounded like she was dozing off.
"Why'd you take those wind chimes?" Instantly he regretted asking. Nana started crying again, but it was so soft and quiet he could hardly hear it. He felt her warm tears on his neck.
When she'd calmed down enough, she murmered through hiccups, "My m-momma's f-favorite chi-chimes. . ." More silence followed this, interrupted occasionally by Nana's stifled sobs. Eventually she wore herself out and couldn't force herself to cry any more, the fingers of sleep closing around her body. She could smell Husky's neck. A pine scent, like the forests they'd camped in, but also a little salty, like the ocean.
Husky's face was in her hair and he could smell flowers and something a little sweeter. Honey, or maybe cinnamon. This was his last comforting thought before his mind faded into the wonderful oblivion of dreams.
The silence after the storm passed was enough to wake them both, and Husky did his best to crawl back out of the log. Some embarassment occured when he got stuck halfway through and Nana's head rested on his lower torso. Wriggling and squirming, Nana managed to crawl through the other end of the log, and she pulled Husky out.
After a night of rest, Nana was able to walk on her own, not very fast, but faster than they'd been going. Around noon they stumbled across a rock outcropping where Senri and Cooro were sleeping.
A/N: A +Anima oneshot I did on whim one night when I was bored. The tiny amount of +Anima fanfictions on this site is rather sad, since it's such a good series. I've read up to volume 7, please don't post spoilers in the reviews for my sake and the sake of others.
Please R/R. Flame as much as you want, cause I know this wasn't very good. I won't be doing another chapter. I'm not a big fan of writing long fanfics, since I get bored with them after about the second chapter and they get discontinued.